TROY -- After a couple of years' worth of hard work and anxiety, the Troy September 11th Memorial Committee will finally be able to add a piece of the World Trade Center buildings to its memorial just in time for its Sept. 9 ceremony.

The committee has acquired a 110 lb. steel section of the I-beam from one of the Twin Towers. Coordinating Committee Chairman Jim Gordon said that a welder is working on the piece which will be installed in the memorial on Thursday.

Gordon said it was a long and somewhat stressful wait before the committee received confirmation that it would be getting the steel. A press release was put out more than a year ago soliciting requests for the pieces of steel to be incorporated into memorials worldwide. Gordon said the committee applied right away as there were plans to build a memorial in Troy to honor the various first responders from Rensselaer County who went to ground zero.

"We needed to provide [The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey] a detailed drawing, a letter of support from then Mayor [Harry] Tutunjian along with the application process," Gordon said. "When we originally submitted our application, we were unaware of the self-imposed deadline because they were inundated with requests since it was before the 10th anniversary."

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With the Port Authority unsure of whether it had enough pieces in its inventory to accommodate the requests, Gordon was upset when he saw places such as Saratoga Springs be given some of the remnants without a concrete plan in place.

"We went back to the sender and asked how they could be awarded this amount without having a plan," Gordon said. "We wanted to tell them ours is being built and ours is dedicated."

Gordon enlisted the help of Sen. Roy McDonald, R-Saratoga, which he said may have pushed Troy up a few notches in consideration. In May, Gordon said he received a phone call notifying him that Troy would be one of the last memorial sites to receive a piece of steel.

He didn't get excited right away, though, as he said there was a lot of red tape to cut through before a final approval was given. He became comfortable with sharing the news once he got an email last week from the Port Authority notifying him the committee's order was ready to ship.

There is still more money to be raised, Gordon said, as the committee needs more money to inscribe historical facts into granite slabs on the existing memorial as well as add two more flag poles. The total amount needed is around $3,000, some of which Gordon said has already been pledged.

Gordon stressed none of the work was done without knowing the committee had the money to do so. He also added that the entire memorial is privately funded and that none of the funding came from any governmental source other than the land provided by the City for the memorial.

Gordon said he is pleased to see the first responders in the 42nd Infantry Division be honored in such a way with a great amount of community support and piece from the Twin Towers. And after last year's emotional ceremony, he said the committee is feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

"This project, for a lot of us, is three or four years in the making," Gordon said. "There will always be maintenance that needs to be done and all involved have worked many hours, days and nights raising money and working. Now it's coming to an end with a very significant exclamation point with this 110 lb. piece of steel."

The Sept.9 memorial service will take place at the Memorial Park located on 112th Street and 1st Avenue in Lansingburgh beginning at noon.